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It is the queen of all flowers and it’s beauty is enchanting. There are a few things one should know to keep her happy.

Where to keep your orchid:

Put your orchid in a bright place without too strong direct sunlight. An east window sill is perfect.

How to water an orchid:

She needs very little water and HATES WET FEET AND LEAVES. Only fill up her pot with water up to the rim every two weeks (once a month is fine too), let stand for 20 minutes and then drain by lifting up the inner pot and removing the water in the covering pot. Once you see the flower stalk coming out water once a week until the flowers open. This will happen about 1-2 times a year. Use a liquid fertilizer once a year.

When to cut the orchid:

After the flowers have fallen off the stalk will dry out. At this time point the first leaf will dry too. Cut it off. Only cut the old stalk when you see the new stalk coming out.

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Upon popular request, here a step-by-step rundown of how to repot plants (nope, it’s not a no-brainer!):

How to repot tomatoes and other veggies:

1. Take out plant from plastic pot; set plant aside
2. Cut out the bottom of plastic pot, and place it over the drain
holes of the larger pot you want to use (this will protect the
holes from clogging with soil when watering)
3. Fill pot with soil until nearly full
4. Add organic fertilizer (e.g. Hornspaene)
5. Mix the soil and fertilizer
6. Dig a hole large enough to fit the plant’s roots (tomatoes
need to be inserted a little deeper than other plants. They
sprout roots from a few inches up their stem, so make sure
you remove any low hanging leaves and cover the first 1
1\2 inches of the stem with soil)
7. Place plant in the hole and fill up the remaining space with
soil
8. Pat the soil down and spread it evenly across the surface
9. Add a large (and I mean large!) amount of water until the
soil muddies up. This process is called sluicing, which helps
to evenly disperse the soil within the container

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The best tomatoes are the ones you have watched grow!!
My balance up to now: 2 kg tomatoes from 6 plants.

TIP OF THE DAY:
Since I can’t eat all of my harvested tomatoes I just put them as they are (not cut) into a freezing bag and FREEZE them. This way you have tomatoes throughout the hole year for making the best tomato sauces you can imagine. Just put a bit of water in a pot and thaw tomatoes over medium heat until they fall appart….